1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lens barrel which allows a moving position of a focus lens to be specified by rotating an operation member as well as to a camera system which uses the lens barrel. More particularly, the present invention relates to a lens barrel which allows a user to switch among plural manual focusing modes by moving the operation member used to specify the moving position of the focus lens along an optical axis as well as to a camera system which uses the lens barrel.
2. Description of the Related Art
A lens barrel is known which is equipped with a turnable operation ring on the lens barrel and is adapted to align distance information indicated on the operation ring with aperture stop information indicated on a fixed member when the operation ring is rotated, determine a moving position of a focus lens, and move the focus lens to an absolute in-focus position using an actuator. Also, a lens barrel is known which displays subject distance information in an information display window during manual focusing and hides the subject distance information during automatic focusing.
For example, a lens barrel disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2011-33795 includes: a manual focus ring 43 used to drive a lens barrel 6 to adjust focus when turned during automatic focusing or manual focusing; and a focus switching ring 47 adapted to rotate around an optical axis and thereby move an intermediate ring 46 and a distance indicator ring 45 along the optical axis, where the intermediate ring 46 is connected to the focus switching ring 47 via a cam and the distance indicator ring 45 is turnably coupled to the intermediate ring 46, wherein during automatic focusing, the distance indicator ring 45 and the manual focus ring 43 are decoupled from each other, making distance information no longer visible in an information display window of the focus switching ring 47, and during manual focusing, the distance indicator ring 45 and the manual focus ring 43 are coupled to each other, making the distance information visible in the information display window of the focus switching ring 47.
With the lens barrel disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2011-33795 described above, switching between an automatic focusing state and a manual focusing state is done by turning the focus switching ring 47, and focus adjustment settings during automatic focusing or manual focusing can be made using a manual focus ring 43 provided separately from the focus switching ring 47.